Getting to Know You
by Pratt Falls
Summary: What if Alex got injured on the job and needed someone to take care of her?


"Alex! Watch out!" Supergirl rushed to her sister's side and carried her to safety, but not before Alex was knocked to the ground by pieces of flying particle board, brick and metal pipes. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. Go. Finish the job." Alex winced as Supergirl gently placed her behind a dumpster. "Be careful. There are explosives everywhere. Apparently the entire building is booby trapped." As Supergirl flew away Alex started admonishing herself for not realizing sooner what was happening. The gargantuan lizard man abducting people's pets was just bait. A lure to get Supergirl to the wharf. But why? Alex knew this particular area well. It was a popular spot with smugglers and criminals with alien connections. Small time stuff compared to what the DEO usually dealt with. And nothing she would bother bringing Supergirl in to handle unless human lives were threatened. There didn't seem to be any life at all at the wharf. The Lizard was long gone, having jumped into the oily waters after the first explosion . . . .

Alex's head was pounding from the multiple hits she took after the second bomb went off. She knew she probably had a concussion and she definitely had at the very least a badly sprained ankle and bruised ribs. All minor, all things considered. As Alex rubbed her eyes and massaged her temples, Supergirl landed beside her. She placed a soft hand on Alex's shoulder. "Are you sure you're ok?"

Alex nodded. "Did you find any civilians?"

"Nope. Nobody was in that warehouse. No Humans, no aliens and no animals."

"Did you scan for weapons? Weird metallic alloys? Radiation?"

Supergirl tilted her head and stared at her sister. "Of course."

"I think we've been played."

"What do you mean?" Supergirl asked as she lifted Alex to her feet.

Alex winced from the pain shooting up her leg. She took a deep breath and continued. "I think somebody wanted to blow up this warehouse and whatever they had stored in it, and it has exactly nothing to do with aliens. Probably whoever wanted to destroy this place wanted to confuse whoever might investigate an exploding warehouse. Think about it. What better way to throw an investigation off track than to bring in Supergirl and make everyone think aliens are involved?"

"Hmmm. That's sneaky. So the dog eating lizard man was just bait? And I fell for it? …. Great!"

"Well, I'm sure people will be glad to know their pets are safe again, but, yah. I don't think, going forward, that the DEO needs to be involved in this investigation." Alex grinned. "I'll get in touch with my contacts at the NCPD and fill them in . . . "

"You do that." Supergirl laughed. "And in the mean time, I'll get you to a doctor."

"I don't need a doctor!" Alex protested as Supergirl picked her up and flew her back to the DEO.  
.

.

.

"Supergirl!" Director Henshaw barked as he walked into the medical bay. "The Amphisoid has returned and he's wreaking havoc near Southside Park."

"The what now?" Supergirl asked.

"How are you feeling, Agent Danvers?"

"Fine, Sir."

"That's a lie. She feels terrible." Supergirl turned to Alex and locked eyes with her. "She needs to go home and rest."

"No she doesn't." Alex shook her head and hopped off the examining table to prove she was ok. "Aaarrrgghhh *$#% %"

"See? Not ok." Supergirl said as she caught Alex in her arms.

"Supergirl," Hank commanded. "Go find the Lizard man and bring him back here before the Humane Society unleashes an army of vigilantes and endangers everyone in this city."

"Yes sir. Will you –"

"Yes. I will make sure your sister gets home. Now go."

"Thank you." Supergirl smiled. "Feel better, Alex. I'll check on you later, ok?"

Alex grunted and Supergirl flew to Southside Park in search of a Lizard shaped alien eating pet dogs.

.  
.

Maggie gently turned the handle and pushed open the door as quietly as possible. "Alex?" She whispered. As she carried in bags of groceries, Maggie caught sight of Alex, sitting on the sofa, her head against the back cushion and left leg propped up on several pillows on the coffee table. With one open eye, Alex acknowledged Maggie's presence and grumbled.

"You didn't have to -"

"Shut up, Danvers." Maggie joked. "I know I didn't have to. I wanted to. I'm just sorry I couldn't get here sooner." She put the groceries on the kitchen island and walked over to Alex. She gently sat on the couch and kissed Alex on the cheek. "Hi."

Alex smiled. "Hi."

"How you feeling?"

"Like I got caught in the middle of an exploding warehouse."

"So what's the prognosis?" Maggie asked playfully. "Are you expected to have a full recovery? Cause I have plans for us that will require you being in excellent physical condition."

"Oh … is that right?" Alex smiled. "Well, you'll be happy to know, the doctors think I'll walk again."

"Oh thank god!" Maggie laughed, and Alex got lost in her impossibly adorable dimples and forgot for a few moments just how wretched she really felt.

"Kara was very particular when she texted me this list." Maggie said as she started putting groceries away. "She made damn sure I knew that there could be no substitutions! So if you're unhappy with any of this stuff, … blame your sister."

Alex nodded her head, acknowledging how important the specifics are to Kara. "I'll tell her you followed her instructions to the letter."

"Why do you need four different flavors of ice cream? Not that I disapprove, I just …. four?"

"When you eat as much ice cream as Kara and I, you need to have options. Also, you don't want to get burned out on your favorite. You gotta mix it up!"

"I see …" Maggie did not see. She thought it was borderline ridiculous. But since she liked 3 of the 4 flavors, she wasn't going to question it any further. Alex turned on the evening news. There was a knock at the door. "I hope that's the pizza guy, I'm starving." Maggie said as she crossed the room.

"When did you order pizza?" Alex asked.

"On my way here," Maggie explained as she paid for the pizza and brought the box over to the coffee table. "I can multi-task!"

"I'm not really hungry." Alex sighed. "But have at it. Enjoy."

"C'mon Alex, you gotta eat! You can't take pain killers on an empty stomach." Maggie said while devouring the first slice.

"Yea, yea, no, I know ..." Alex looked away. She did not want to have this conversation.

"Where are your meds? Did your doctor prescribe anything decent?" Maggie got up and moved toward the kitchen counter looking for a prescription bottle. "You look like whatever you're taking is not really working."

"I'm not … there's no meds, Maggie. I'm not taking anything."

"Why the hell not?" Maggie asked incredulously. "Geez, Alex, don't be a martyr. Take something for the pain."

Alex put her hands over her ears and barked, "Just drop it, Maggie!" She immediately regretted being so rude. She pressed her palms against her temples. Her head was pounding, her ankle was black and blue and swollen and every breath hurt from her bruised ribs. She was exhausted physically and emotionally. She started to cry.

"Well shit." Maggie mumbled under her breath. She went back and sat next to Alex putting one hand on her knee while she rubbed Alex's back with her other hand. She waited for Alex to compose herself.

"I'm sorry." She said, her voice choked with pain. "It's just … everything hurts right now. My head, my ribs, my – everything. And I would love nothing more than to take a pill and make it all go away, but I can't. I won't. I – . You don't understand, Maggie. I can't." she sobbed. Maggie pulled Alex into a gentle embrace.

"It's ok. It's ok, Alex. Shhhhhhh."

Just then Kara was walking down the hall on her way to Alex's condo. She was in an excellent mood and was excited to tell Alex all about why she was late and what had happened at Southside Park. Turns out the man-sized Lizard Amphisoid thingy was stealing dogs, but NOT eating them. Supergirl found the Lizard in a cave hiding with every breed of dog you can imagine. Once she got the Lizard out in the open and wrestled him into submission, she spent the rest of the night returning the dogs to their owners. It was the most fun she'd ever had as Supergirl!

As she approached Alex's door Kara could hear voices from inside. She paused to use her super hearing.

"I'm sorry Maggie. Just, forget it. Forget I said anything." She pushed Maggie away. "I'm fine. I'll be fine."

Kara's heart sank. Should she knock? Should she go away? She waited.

"How about I make us some tea?" Maggie suggested.

"I don't want any." Alex said.

"No? Well, I think I do, if that's ok." She walked toward the kitchen and stopped. "Do you have tea?"

"Probably not." Alex admitted.

"Fair enough. Then I guess we'll have to break out the ice cream." Maggie grabbed a pint and two spoons and went back to the couch. She opened the container of raspberry chocolate chip and handed Alex a spoon.

"Ok, Danvers. Here's the deal. I …" she took a deep breath, "... have been in many relationships... Most of them were not serious. The ones that were serious ended because I made really stupid mistakes. I'm hoping to not repeat any of those mistakes with you." Maggie paused and looked at Alex. She smiled. "Right now I have no idea if the right thing to do is to back off, let you have your space and your privacy and just mind my own business. Or, if the right thing to do is to gently encourage you to … y'know … share whatever it is that's upsetting you. And like, remind you that nobody is perfect, I'm not perfect, I don't expect you to be perfect and I'm not going to run away. I'm here for you, Alex."

Alex nodded her head. Swallowed hard and closed her eyes. In the hallway, Kara leaned against the wall, profoundly sad and worried for her sister.

Alex stabbed the ice cream with her spoon and considered her options. She finally looked up at Maggie. Tears filled her eyes as her chest swelled with shame. "When I was in med school," she whispered, "I … I, uh … I got hooked on painkillers. On opiods. I was … I am-" she swallowed hard, barely able to get the words out. "I'm an addict."

Outside in the hallway Kara gasped. She had no idea. She never knew Alex had a problem like that. She couldn't picture it. How was it possible? Her sister? An addict? And she didn't know? Kara got up, quickly walked away form the apartment and wept.

Maggie took Alex's hand. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry you had to go through that and I'm sorry you have to suffer in pain now and I'm sorry I can't make the pain go away. But I'm glad you told me. C'mere" she said as she hugged Alex. "Hey, I have an idea, schooch over."

"Skooch over? What are you doing?"

"I'm going to massage your shoulders. And if you let yourself relax it might actually help." Maggie handed over the ice cream and settled herself behind Alex. She began rubbing the muscles at the base of her neck.

"Ohhhhh" Alex sighed, "ok, that feels nice." Just then her cellphone pinged. A message from Kara. Maggie reached over to the side table and grabbed Alex's phone.

"I'll trade ya," she smiled as she took the ice cream and handed over the phone.

Alex read the message and returned Kara's text.

.

 _Hey! Sorry the Lizard Man took longer than expected.  
You ok?_

 **Yes. Fine. Maggie's here.  
She brought ice cream. As instructed.**

 _Good deal.  
Do you need me to come by?_

 **No. I'm fine. Go home.**

 _Are you sure?_

 **Yes.**

 _Ok. Feel better.  
Call you tomorrow._

 **Ok. Thx.**

 _G'night._

 **G'night**

 _Tell Maggie I said G'night too! ;)_  
 _And thanks!_

 **I will.**

.

"Kara says thanks."

"No problem." Maggie said as she gave her back the ice cream and resumed massaging Alex's shoulders. "Is she ok? She was kind of vague when she texted me. Said she had a work thing she couldn't get out of or something."

"Oh, yeah, she was in the middle of an interview, I guess. Y'know, sometimes it takes forever to get the person you need to talk to scheduled and if you cancel … Plus, she just started this job and her boss is a jerk."

Maggie continued to gently knead Alex's tense muscles until she could feel her slowly relax. "Alex, can I make a suggestion?"

"MmmmHmmm"

"I have Advil PM in my purse. Can you take that?"

"Yeah."

"It's late. You need to sleep. Let me help you get to bed before you fall asleep on this lumpy couch."

"My couch is not lumpy!" Alex protested.

"It's not only lumpy, but it's also kinda ugly."

"Maggie!" Alex laughed. "Why are you insulting my furniture?"

"I don't know. It's another one of those relationship things I never do right. Forget I said it." Maggie got up to grab her purse. "It's definitely not uncomfortable or butt ugly. I was totally wrong about that."

"Oh, no don't make me laugh" pleaded Alex as she stood up.

Maggie handed her two Advil and a glass of water. "Did they give you crutches or are you supposed to hop around on one foot for the next few days?"

"The crutches are … somewhere, I don't know."

"Ok, listen up, Danvers. This is the plan." Maggie stood with hands on hips in a classic _'I'm in Charge. Don't Interrupt Me'_ power pose. "I'm going to help you get yourself ready for bed. Then I'm going to make sure you have everything you need and then I'm going to wait out here on this piece of shit couch until you fall asleep. And then I'll probably be half asleep myself and so I'll probably just stay over cause I want to make sure you don't need anything, like in the middle of the night or something. And besides you'll need help in the morning too. And you'll need somebody to make you breakfast. So, let's just say I'm staying. Ok? Ok. Don't try to tell me no. I've decided. It's decided."

"Do I get to say anything?" Alex asked.

"Not if you're going to try to talk me out of staying."

"No … I just want to suggest that … you don't have to sleep on my perfectly, fine couch. Not if you don't want to. I mean, it's not exactly how I imagined our first night together, but . . . it would be nice, if you wanted to . . . to sleep with me. In my, not lumpy bed." Alex smiled shyly.

Maggie moved in and kissed Alex. "I would love to sleep in your not lumpy bed. With you."

"But only if you promise to come back when I don't have bruised ribs and a mild concussion."

Maggie smiled. "Cross my heart."


End file.
